Internship Paper
My internship at Maxwell's Restorations, a renowned high-end violin shop in Cleveland, OH, was an experience that helped me to develop basic skills in instrument repair, web development, and organizational management. I got an inside view of the life of a luthier, and both the positives and negatives of going into that profession. My boss, Maxwell Morgan, has been working in Cleveland as an independent luthier since 2015, and had previously apprenticed at a major violin shop in Atlanta.
Although Maxwell and I had initially planned the internship as being four weeks, Monday to Friday from 9-5, we decided that it would be easier to complete it in three longer stretches, since it fit in better with both of our schedules. The new shop has two extra bedrooms upstairs, so I was able to stay in one of them for the weeks that I was working. This made the work convenient, and made it easier to work for longer consistent periods.
I spent much of the time doing general chores to help with upkeep of the shop. This included several trips to Home Depot, painting the house, tinting a window, mowing the lawn, sweeping the shop and refinishing the front door. It was a lot of work, and something that Maxwell usually does himself. When starting an independent business such as his, it is important to keep in mind that one has to do both specialized work as well as general, everyday labor. This is different from larger instrument shops, where the work tends to be more distributed, and leaves less pressure on an individual.
A general observation that I made while working there is that I would have more interest in working for a bigger organization rather than an independent small business. A division of labor allows for a business to grow and explore new avenues, rather than having to overwork oneself on a daily basis just to keep ahead of things. Maxwell’s business is admirable and he does extremely good work produced through hard work and long hours, and he is unable to pursue all of the projects that he would like to. For instance, he expressed interest in opening up his space to string teaching, opening up a rental business, and/or hiring a full-time employee to help with everyday repairs. However, none of these seem tenable with the amount of consistent management that would have to go into these. His business works through word-of-mouth, and he doesn’t have the time nor the will to advertise in any way. This has gotten him more business than he can handle, but doesn’t offer itself up to expansion or diversification. Maxwell knows that something in his business will have to change in the next few years, but he is unsure which steps to take going forward.
High-end luthier work has the combined problem of a) not enough people who know how to do the work that needs to be done in the bowed string community and b) a general unwillingness to train new luthiers, as they could end up taking away business from their own shops. Some luthiers, such as Maxwell, come up as apprentices in repair shops for several years, while others go to a three-year luthier school, which is focused on instrument building. While I didn’t get nearly enough experience to take any serious dive into luthiering, it was enough to give me an idea of the landscape of the profession. It is truly a full-time job that takes years of hard work and passion to become adequate enough to be able to serve the musical community. While I admire the people who really enjoy doing this, I would find it difficult to focus on anything elsewhile simultaneously working in instrument repair.
A major benefit of the work was hearing all of the comings and goings of the local musical community. If one wants to get an idea of the classical music scene in any city, there is certainly no better place to do it. Even in the small amount of time that I was there, I was introduced to the concertmaster and principal second violinist of the Cleveland Orchestra, the former principal bass of the Israel Philharmonic, several members of Apollo’s Fire, and even BGSU professors. Each customer brings in a little piece of gossip about orchestra auditions, job openings, orchestral personnel managers, music schools, etc.
A significant amount of my time was spent organizing his shop, since he had recently bought a new workshop in a commercially zoned house in the Larchmere district of Cleveland. I made several Home Depot trips, painted the house, and organized his basement and workshop. Prior to being a luthier’s workshop and living space, it was a custom frame shop. The basement, therefore, was full of old framing equipment that had to be hauled upstairs. Additionally, we moved Maxwell’s power tools down to the basement and set up a dust trap to keep the rest of the basement clear of sawdust. My presence there helped to solidify the shop as a permanent home for both Maxwell and his clients.
The most useful repair skill I learned was how to glue open seams. While I vaguely learned other fixes such as sound adjustments, top removal and replacement, cutting bridges, and sharpening tools, gluing open seams is easy, low-risk, and cheap to do oneself. This will save me a ton of time and money in the future, since I have to go to a luthier about once a year to glue open seams on my instrument.
While I have made websites before, I got more experience by updating his website. It was in a sorry state, so I spent my first couple of days in Cleveland fixing it up and formatting it so that it would look professional. Since his business website platform was WordPress instead of Squarespace, which I had used in the past, I was able to learn a new program which had a slightly different approach to creating graphic designs.
Overall, it was a fun and enriching experience, even if it didn’t inspire me to pursue luthiering as a career. It was good that I was able to work for a friend in an area that I like very much and saw how his business functions. At times, it was hard work, and at others I had little to do, but I grew from the experience and Maxwell was grateful for some help around the shop.
-Adam Har-zvi